Scientists turn liposuction fat cells into stem cells

Two scientists found that fat cells harvested through liposuction could be reprogrammed into stem cells in about half the time than when using skin cells. Also, 60 to 90 colonies of induced pluripotent stem cells emerge in a dish of transformed fat compared with three or four for skin cells. The researchers now are exploring the possibility of eliminating the need for genes and viruses to be inserted into the cells being reprogrammed into stem cells.